Halcyon Days
"From the Ashes" is a great series of issues from the halcyon Claremont days. Before the infestation of retcons in the Marvel Universe, destroying all sense of continuity and turning Scott Summers into one of the most heartless characters in literary history (more than once), Chris Claremont provides powerful stories and interesting characters. Some may not like Claremont's frequent and extensive use of thought-bubble inner monologues, but it's much better characterization than just non-stop, thoughtless action with the occasional dialogue. Those that don't like the adult-like nature of comics today must have missed the '70s and '80s - there's a fair amount of bathtub scenes in the Claremont era as well! Scott's internal conflicts over the loss of Jean and the appearance of Madelyne Pryor is a great aspect of this series. We can only wonder how things would have been different had Marvel followed their original plan of letting Scott and Madelyne retire and the new generation of mutants take over. Obviously, things would have been drastically different (including my favorite X-Cutioner's Song), but it could have been less complicated than the retcon era. The first appearance of Callisto and the Morlocks, the early menace of the Hellfire Club, the Summers boys' reunification with their father, and Lady Mariko's assumption of the Japanese criminal underground all play supporting roles in this momentous turning point in the lives of the Children of the Atom. Though it would be mildly helpful to be familiar with the first 130-some issues of X-Men before this, the Magik: Illyana and Storm mini-series and the first Wolverine mini-series (both written by Claremont) are important to read before (Magik) and during (Wolverine) this series. Even so, by itself this is a truly great collection of great issues of yesteryear.